In the WinGate dialer configuration (found in System Services window in GateKeeper) there is a setting in the properties of each dialup profile which tells WinGate how long it should wait when there is no activity, before disconnecting.

This is set to 180 seconds by default but can be disabled or the time changed if required. (Referred to here as the Inactivity period).

Sometimes even when the Inactivity Period has been reached the WinGate Dialer will not actually disconnect. This can be due to several reasons, such as keep alives sent down the line from the ISP and other miscellaneous traffic travelling through the dialup interface, which can make WinGate think there is activity even though none is showing up.

The reason why this happens, is that the WinGate Dialer has a registry setting called IdleTrafficLevel. This value sets the amount of traffic that will be ignored by WinGate during the Inactivity period, when it is determining whether there is activity occurring through the dial up interface or not.

So in actual fact, there can be a small amount of traffic that can actually travel through the dialer interface(modem etc) before it will show up as activity to the WinGate dialer. If the amount of this traffic passes the IdleTrafficLevel amount that has been set in the registry, then WinGate will think that this data is traffic activity and so keep the connection alive, even though there is no activity shown in WinGate, no clients connected etc.

If you find that the WinGate Dialer is not disconnecting due to receiving too much keep alive or miscellanous data (passing the IdleTrafficLevel as described above) you can adjust this amount through the registry.

Please Note:
To do this requires editing the registry settings. You should only attempt this if you fully understand the consequences of editing the registry, and have taken the appropriate steps to backup the registry before proceeding.

1. From the Start menu select Run and type Regedit.
2. Navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Qbik Software\WinGate\Dialer.
3. Find the Dword setting called [b]IdleTrafficLevel[/b].
4. Tweak the level to the appropriate amount required.
5. Exit regedit.
6. Stop and Restart the WinGate Engine for the setting to take effect.

Remember
Setting the level to a higher value will mean that the WinGate Dialer will ignore a greater amount of “idle traffic” when it is determining activity levels. As a result WinGate would have to receive a higher level of “idle traffic” to have it think that there is still activity on the connection and stay connected.